Indestructible Fate
by Killerqueen81
Summary: This story is a continuum of the Demonata series, but it is also a cross over of the Demonata, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Supernatural and Avatar - the Last Air Bender. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**_Part 1_**

_"Everyone will know"_

_For:_

_**The BB [Baker / Brandon] Clan:**__With all those awesome people in my family who have kept me motivated in writing this story. You are the most awesomely awesome family I could ever have._

_**The fearsome foursim:**__A supernatural book for three supernatural people and my badass bestest Freindz! [And yes, Francesca, I did name one of my main characters David.]_

_And also a big thanks to my Wattpad, Movellas and readers [you know who you are - I only know a few of you] and thank you to those who have even voted for my story._

_- - - - - __G__ - - - - -_

_So before you start reading, I just want to note that I do not own all the characters in this story. I have awesomely knitted in some of my all-time favourite stories like - Harry potter, The Demonata series [by Darren Shan], My sword hand is singing [by Marcus Sedgwick], Supernatural, game of thronesTeen Wolf and a little Skyrim!_

_I have included the content of: Harry potter, the Demonata, Supernatural and teen wolf. And the story is set in a world like that of Tamriel [Skyrim] and Chust [My sword hand is singing]_

_[__A warning though, it does get quite intense and contains offensive language__]_

_Enjoy _

* * *

_An unexpected letter_

**[James's perspective]**

An owl hoots loudly in my ear. "Hermes! Go away!" I growl.

He just responds by nipping at my ear and pulling at my messy brown hair, squawking irritably. I go to push him away and he scratches me with his Talons.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?" I yell at him, sitting bolt upright.

But I know what it was for; he will only scratch me if he is practically yelling at me to "move," or "hurry up."

"Shit I'm late for school!" I fling myself out of bed, grab my jacket, my bag and whistle as I run out the door of my tiny house.

Athena, my light brown, mare, gallops around the corner and comes to a stop in front of me. I use a notch in the wall to help lift myself up onto her bare back.

"Let's go!" I say and she starts galloping towards town with me clinging to her neck to stay on. I'm not used to at least having a bridle.

Athena starts to slow as we approach the small school and I prepare to make a jump. She becomes slow enough for me to think it would be safe. I jump down from her back and star sprinting to class, while she calmly makes her way to the stables and waits for someone to let her in.

"Detention" the teacher says as I close the door behind me.

_Of course it's snake! Who else would I get first thing in the morning? _

I make my way towards my usual desk at the edge of the classroom, next to a small boy with ginger hair that is just as out of control as mine, His name is David Hale.

"What were you doing? You missed half the class!"

I ignore him and set to getting my books out and searching for a pen at the bottom of my bag.

When I see that he is still waiting for an answer I say "I was getting savagely attacked by an owl!" I tell him in a harsh whisper.

"Hermes? But he's so friendly!" he whispers back.

"Silence Grady!" growls Professor Slate.

I look across to David and he mouths something to me, that I make out to be "Damn his creepily good hearing." I silently laugh under my breath and spend the rest of class going between scribbling notes off David's book and only getting some of what Slate is talking about written down.

_I'm going to fail..._ I say simply to myself and I almost shout with happiness when the bell rings. I start to stand up when a cold hand grips my upper arm like iron, pushing me back into my chair with great strength._ Crap. I forgot about the detention_.

"Yes you quite forgot didn't you?" Slate say's slyly, as if he had just read my mind. I watch as everyone leaves and I figured that David will probably go and find the others and wait for me.

It's doesn't take long for me to get bored either and I end up reading random passages out of my journal. Snake lets me go ten minutes before the bell and I run out to find my friends.

I spot David kneeling under a tree with another good friend, Lily. She is setting quietly on a large root of the lone oak with her long black hair roughly done in a single braid slung over her shoulder, watching David attempt to get a large black owl to come towards him.

_Typical David_; he loves animals.

As I get closer I notice that the owl has a pale red scar across its right, pure white eye and its left eye is a fierce, fiery gold. It was ignoring David entirely and its working left eye was fixed on me. "Oh my god! It's Krieg!" I sprint to where they are sitting and skid to my knees next to Krieger, who stays where he is regardless of me nearly squashing him. He just stands his ground like an old warrior and calmly lifts his leg, revealing that he is carrying a letter.

I hastily remove it from his leg, rip open the leather binding and pull out the letter. I see that it is very short but I'm too impatient for news of my dad to pause.

"James,

I realise you haven't heard from me for a while and I am sorry. Things have been really hard lately and I didn't want to tell you this until we meet up again, but I have no right to hold this from you. You need to know."

As I move down the page, my hand brushes over a soft patch on the paper. Images of my dad - my big indestructible father - crying as he writes; and my heart fills with dread.

"Your mother, Renn, was killed by a group of mages going by the name of 'Argent'. She died trying to save a good friend of mine, who didn't make it either. This is why you havn't heard from me for so long. I have spent the last few mouth, fruitlessly tracking them down. I am sorry I had to tell you this way. I should be telling you in person but Krieg will get to you faster than I will. But I promise, I'll see you soon. I just need to funish off one more thing before I can return.."

_G__Grubbs"_

"What does it say?" David asks. Spotting my expression of frozen shock, he gently takes the letter out of my unresponsive hands. After he finishes it, he passes it to Lily with a very tightly controlled expression on his face.

Lily reads it and she is the first to break the dead silence.

"Oh James, I'm sorry"

"Why?" I ask; my voice dead and dry. "It's not your fault my mother's dead!" Each word I say feels like arrow heads are forcing their way up my throat.

I suddenly hear a booming voice shouting across the field.

"Is that what this show is about? Is that why you're crying waterfalls Grady?"

I press my eyes tightly shut as the unwelcome voice hammers at my anger.

"Because your mummy got herself killed!" _Joshua Cult_ I am not surprised that he and his gang was eavesdropping on this. I look over my shoulder and glare at Cult as he advances on us.

"I'm just surprised you hadn't found out till now," He says gleefully as Max and Bograrn, Cult's to biggest minions, walk up behind him like body guards. "Because... you know; it was 3 and a half months ago now."

"How the hell do you know that?" I ask, standing up.

"Oh I was there!" He says smugly and I feel my rage begin to bubble away under my skin, bursting to break free.

Josh obviously notices my tension because a triumphant smile breaks out across his face.

"It's wasn't a very pretty sight I can tell you that. Watching her stand with all those dirty traitors calling themselves, _The Disciples_," he says and my hands curl inwards into fists and I press my fingers in with my thumb, cracking my knuckles. Max's eyes flick down to my fists in reaction to the sound but Cult continues. "Then just before just before the fun begins she jump in front of their swords and gets her guts spilled across the plain; and you should have seen your fathers face."

I lose it. I run towards him and before anyone can do anything I plant my clenched fist deep into his Cult's face.

Then before I can do any more damage, strong hands grab my shoulders and pull me back as I howl my fury at Cult. I can just hear voices in the background and I stop screaming and listen to them while watching Josh get to his feet holding his nose.

Professor Lupin has come to investigate the commotion. I turn around and see Lily talking to him and he walks towards us.

"Right both of you stop killing each other and, Josh get in that class room and wait for me. James you will come back after school, I sense it's not the best idea in the world to have you two in the same room to do your detentions," he says and it is only then that I realise we had attracted a small crowd of staring teenagers.

I push my way out of the crowd; hating the feeling of being watch by all those horror struck eyes. I push my way through them until I break from the crowd and all I can think of is to run.

- - - - - G - - - - -

**[David's perspective]**

"We should go and get him" I say to Lily.

"We can't" she says as a small albino girl runs towards us after seeing Josh glowering at us as he enters the classroom after Lupin.

"What's going on? This place practically smells of violence aftermath," The pale girl says once she is within earshot. It was Estella.

"James punched Cult in the face," I say simply. "And I said that we should go after him!"

"And I said we can't, you have class soon" Lily injects.

"She has a point you know. We can't exactly just skip school to find someone," Estella says and I glare at her. "Even if he is, like you brother," she adds.

"Have you two already forgotten what's just happened?" I say to them, my voice rising. "James's mother has just been killed by some bastard and we really need to find him right now before he does something stupid!" I yell "And I don't really care if you come with me or not," There is a moment silence before I continue my voice lowering back to its normal volume. "I'm going to look for James."

And with that I turn around and run out of school. I know James tends to seek out high places with lots of trees when he wants to be alone. And there is a very high spot at the top of the water fall that has a view out from the forest, which we used to go to when we were younger.

It was our secret place, where we could just sit and watch the world play out its role. My bet is that is where James is now.

I make my way into the forest and along a distinctly familiar path, up the steep bank. _It's been so long since I've last been up here. Just goes to show how life gets so busy the older you become! _I say to myself, letting my mind drift between memories.

I spot the small, powerful stream as the earth levels out and I follow it down stream out of habit more that thinking it's logical. As I approach the edge of the forest, I spot James, sitting on the edge of the cliff. His hair blown off his face from the fierce wind and his eyes stained red from battling back angry tears.

I settle down between him and the stream rolling off the cliff in one big powerful rush of water and we just sit in silence. It almost feels like the days when everything seemed so straight forward.

After a while the girls turn up, no doubt feeling guilty for saying that they weren't coming. They sit on James's other side and the silence continues.

"I've just realised that I left my bag behind," James says, breaking the silence.

"It should be fine" Lily says, not picking up that his true meaning was that he doesn't want to talk about his mother and I don't blame him really.

Personally I think he is dealing with it much better than I did, when I got told both my parents were dead. When they died I never talked to anyone, never even wanted to see anyone for weeks on end. I shut myself off from the world and my mind turned into my own personal slice of Hell. I would scream if anyone tried to make contact with me. I would yell and throw everything in sight at them until they ran out the door. I was six. And it still burdens me now, eleven years later. It feels like the wound it left in my soul, still hasn't healed.

- - - - - G - - - - -

**[Max's perspective]**

"Oi Boggz! Take a look at this! Grady left his hand bag behind!" I yell, strolling to where the fight broke out, Boggz close behind me. I unzip the duffle bag and take a nosy inside.

I find mostly scrunched up papers, school books and a few scattered pens. But there is one thing that catches my eye. A leather bound book near the bottom, hiding under some books.

I pull it out and let it open to where it was marked by the red strip of fabric.

The first thing I notice is that there are many, slightly bent, extra pieces of paper shoved between different pages but then I really take a look at the pages. It wasn't written in words! It was almost entirely in inked symbols that I have never seen before. The only parts I recognised as words were scribbled sentences in the margins. I couldn't read most of them because they were so messy, but I managed to read a few. They said things like 'also called monkshood,' and 'mountain ash or rowan is useful.'

"What the hell is that?" Boggz says over my shoulder.

"I have no Idea," I say, closing the book and putting it in my bag. "But Josh might know. I'm just getting the feeling he's not going to like it," I say. "When he comes out of detention, we have to find out."

"What about school?" Boggz asks. I stare at him, trying to see if he is being possessed. "I never thought I would hear you say you gave a crap about school!" I say astonished that it might actually have been him who said it. But he just shrugs his big shoulders and walks back to where we were waiting for Josh to come out of the class room.

He comes out two minutes before the bell and I instantly drag him away, around a corner and show him the book. When he opens it, his response is just like Boggz "What the hell is this!" he says not looking up from the pages. He just continues to flick through them hastily.

"I found it in Grady's bag, back there. Pretty interesting huh?"

"It's Grady's?" Josh says, his voice full of white hot rage.

"Yea. Why? Do you know what the symbols are?" I ask.

When Josh doesn't answer I try again. "You know don't you. What are they Josh?"

But he just turns around and starts walking down a corridor. I look at Boggz and he just shrugs at me so I sprint after Josh. "Josh, tell me now or I swear to god! I'm going to punch you a lot harder than James did!" I yell after him as I catch sight of him again. But he doesn't answer until he stops at the library door and I nearly collide into him.

He turns towards me and flashes the book in my face. "The symbols in this book," he says not really finishing his sentence. "They are Runes! Full on occult Runes!"

"But why…" I say, but Josh interrupts my question.

"Yes I know! Why is it in runes? Why has James got an occult book? Where did he get it, who gave it to him? I want to answer all those questions too. That is why we are here instead of in class," He says impatiently, indicating the library behind him.

I feel like he thinks I'm stupid. I know that's why we're here!

"There is something going on with Grady, that anger he got; it was more than that. A blood thirsty rage like that isn't normal and this?" he continues and he waves the book between us again. "This just confirms it. Grady is holding a secrete and this, is going to tell us exactly what it is he is hiding. There has to be something going on! And I'm not stopping until I know what's going on with the damn Grady's!"


	2. Chapter 2

Revenge!

**[James's perspective]**

Revenge! That's the main thought on my mind at the moment. Not only was Cult making fun of my mum's death and insulting my family, he was making a big show of it. He knew I angered easily so he silently fed the fire of my rage, and then he brought on crowd to watch as I tried to kill him so I would get into all the trouble. I realise how lucky I am that it was Lupin and not Snake that came to stop the fight. But I still hate Cult for trying.

I think David can probably sense it too, unlike the others, David has known me my whole life. It's like he is my brother, but his parents died long ago and I've never asked about it.

"We might have to go soon," says Estella breaking the silence.

I nod my head. But I don't really want to leave. I love it here. It has always felt somehow separate from the rest of the world. And it has so many memories linked into it.

I look to my left and see the old Poplar tree that my dad planted as a sapling when his brother died. I used to think that the scattered fluff that came from the tree was parts of Uncle Billy's spirit and I would come up here - when I met David he started to come too - and just sit and watch the fluff swirl around in the wind like fresh falling snow. And sometimes I could imagine it form a ghostly form of Uncle.

I never knew my Uncle, but I made my own image of him over the year, basted off the stories Dad was always telling me. My favourite story was how they were once convinced that their Uncle, Dervish, was a werewolf. It always made me laugh every time I made him tell it. Now… Not so much.

My eyes absently follow a larger piece of fluff as it comes to rest on the stream and gets carried down the rapids and washed over the edge of the cliff. I remember how the almost happened to me when I was three. Back when dad wasn't always away, working a job, we used to come up her and make little boats out of leafs and trigs and we would send them down the river and sometimes, I would chase them. One time when I was doing this and I fell into the river and rushed through the rapids. Mum had grabbed my foot as I had started to fall down the cliff and dad had grabbed her around the waist before she fell down with me.

When I was ten, dad told me this story and he had told me _'When Reni started to pull you back up we were both expecting you to be balling your eyes out, but we were very surprise to see you weren't crying at all, far from it. You were clapping your little hands and laughing like a maniac, with your eyes shining madly._' I still remember some of it. I remember the icy rapids and the share thrill of the gushing wind on my face as I went flying off the cliff.

I others get up and I automatically follow them. Walking at the back, with David at my side.

- - - - - G - - - - -

**[David's perspective]**

The bell goes just as we get back to school and the girls split from us and we goes in different directions. We make our way to our next class with Lupin and I think they have a study period now. When we arrive I spot two spare desks, one in front of the other and I sit in the one behind so I can keep an eye on James.

"Right, Bruce, Loid; take a seat and we will begin," Professor Lupin says to the twins.

Everyone starts unpacking their bags and James unzips his awesome hunting duffle bag.

I've always envied him in that way. His dad is so cool and sometimes he lets James have some of his old gear. He even helped James forge his own sword when he turned fourteen. I wish he was my dad too.

Suddenly James goes all stiff for a moment in his seat then he throws his hands through his bag violently, swearing under his breath. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

"What is it?" I whisper and he twists in his chair to face me. He has gone very pale and his green dark green eyes wide and anxious.

"My journal's been stolen!"

- - - - - G - - - - -

**[Lily's perspective]**

"I hate study periods!" I say as we try finding an empty classroom.

"Why?" Estella asks without much actual interest.

"Because there's never anything to do!" I say in my biggest complaining voice. "We just sit there for a whole hour, doing nothing!"

"You mean you sit there doing nothing?" She corrects me. "You know you can always, actually study!"

Really! Who would ever do that! Actually study in a study period? Never! I say sarcastically to myself.

"How about we go to the library? Then you can at least read," She adds. I don't even get a chance to object before she turns around and runs towards the library.

I drop my head and sigh deeply before sprinting as fast as my pathetically human legs can carry me and I try catch up with Esta.

- - - - - G - - - - -

**[James's perspective]**

I feel David poke me in the back, between the gap in my chair. I tilt my head to the side slightly so I can just see him. He passes me a small slip of paper and I open it under my desk as I take some more notes down.

I flick my eyes down and quickly read what it says._ 'Any idea who took your journal?'_

I scribble two words on the back using my leg as a rest then I pass it back to him._ 'Joshua Cult'_ it has to have been him. Him or Max, they are the only people who would have enough of a grudge on me to take it, Bograrn is too blank minded. There is only fifteen minutes left of class and I go back to taking down as many notes as I can of what Lupin is saying about Rugaru's. When the bell goes, I shove all my books back into my bag and wait for David to finish writing a note down. As the class empties Lupin walks slowly towards us, with his hands in his pockets.

"I would have thought you would be slightly more interested in Rugaru's. They are not the most well-known creature in the world," He says sounding a little disappointed and I feel my stomach sink.

I always feel really bad when I disappoint him. Lupin has always looked out for me and David, ever since dad left. It's almost like he is family, in fact he the same age as my dad -even if his hair is streaked with grey- and Sometimes it feels like he's my Uncle.

"Sorry" I say and there's a bit of a pause as he gives us a bit of a look.

"Something has happened," He says quietly. "Hasn't there?"

If he got that from just looking at me, then I must be a crapier actor than I thought.

"How did you know?" David asks and there is a slight pause before Lupin responds.

"The eyes are a window to the soul," He says wisely. "Do you want to tell me about it? Or should I just let you go."

I glance toward David, speaking to him without words. _'Can you tell him? Please'_

David looks away, running a hand though his ginger mop of hair. A habit I have come to notice he does when he is very, very deep in thought. Then David sets to telling Lupin about the letter.

When he finishes his short story, I notice that Lupin had gone slightly stiff but I only see it for a split second before it disappears, hidden expertly as he drags over a chair.

"Did you know my mother" I ask; my mouth as dry as fire wood.

"Yes I did know her," He says "I knew her though her brother, Loch Gossel. I knew your Father too. Once he transferred to our school and opened up a bit anyway. I always found of strange that a boy that large could be so tucked away in his own head," He added as an afterthought. "Then he joined our little gang of friends and he would always goggle over Reni whenever she came. I was obvious that he had a huge crush on her." He pauses for a while and I can imagine the memories flash in his eyes. "I am sorry to hear that she is gone," He says quietly to me and my eyes drift to my feet.

David interrupts the silence gently by reminding me about my journal.

"You think someone stole it? Are you sure you didn't just misplace it," Lupin asks, subtly pulling himself together.

"No I was reading it this morning and I left my bag behind after the fight. They must of taken it then," I say.

"Where would you go if you had something in a different language?" I ask Lupin.

"I could have told you that one" David says.

"What language is your journal in?" Lupin asks just slightly after.

I ignore David and answer Lupin with what I hope to be a not too obvious lie. "Greek," I say.

"I would go to the library," Lupin says simply.

_Crap why didn't I think of that?_ "God that was obvious. Ok. Well thanks, we really need to run. I have to get it back," I say slinging my bag over my shoulder and backing up to the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow" I say, trying to look cheerful. Lupin wasn't fooled but he nodded and wished me luck as we leave the classroom. I race down the corridor, my bag banging familiarly against my back and David running close behind me.

- - - - - G - - - - -

**[David's perspective]**

We reached the library long after I run out of breath. And I bend over forwards gasping as James searches around, trying to see if he can see Josh or max.

It doesn't take me long to know that they aren't there so I seek out the librarian and ask if she saw them.

"Yes I did see them in here. They left not long ago" she says.

"Do you know where they might of gone?" James asks.

"Did they get any books out?" I ask, thinking it would an easier question for her to answer.

"I don't know where they plan to go, no but I can tell you that they got two books out," She says.

"What were they called?" James asks quickly.

"One was a translator and the other was called 'Fantastic beasts and where to find them'," She says impatiently.

I look at James waiting for him to say something. He steps back and throws his hands to the back of his head, his hands clunched into fists holding clumps of his dark hair inside them. His eyes gone wild and full of fear. It's starting to scare me, seeing him this frightened! He has always been the tough, unbreakable one in the group, now he is breaking under the slightest pressure.

"Hey. Hey! James? Dude, look at me!" I say grabbing his shoulders and his eyes shoot to mine, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.

"We'll get it back. Okay? We're going to get you journal back. You just need to chill! Just calm down, take deep breaths and chill…" I say shaking him slightly.

James shudders and he attempts to control himself.

"Hey what going on?" someone says running towards us.

I look to the side and see that it's Lily and Estella.

"James is having a panic attack" I tell them.

Lily pushes past me without warning and leans towards James and for a moment I thought she was going to kiss him. But then she goes to his ear and whispers.

James freezes and he turns and stares at the smiling Lily, open mouthed. Then she winks.

"See you later scruffy one" she says tiptoeing to ruffle James hair and then she walks in front of him and out of the library.

"What did you say?" I ask quietly as she passes me.

"I just made him hold his breath." she says without pausing and closes the door behind her.

I look at James. His face was almost completely blank, other than a curious small smile appearing at the edge of his face.

"What did she tell you?" I ask, "And stop smiling like that, it creeping me out," I add.

But I don't get an answer because the door opens and Lily stumbles into the doorway. "I forgot that I was going to tell you that, I was eavesdropping on those to bastards, Josh and max before and I didn't realise at the time that it was your journal they had," She says, catching her breath. "You were eavesdropping?" Estella interrupts, staring at Lily and it sounds to me as if she's going to start lecturing her. "Of course I was eavesdropping! I was bored" she says. "Did they say where they were going?" James asks before a fight starts. "Yup, right before they left, Josh said 'meet at yours' they're at Max's house" she says, looking very proud of herself. "And if you're planning to go after them, I want to come with," She adds. "Watching those bastards getting thrashed if not something I want to miss!"

- - - - - G - - - - -

**[James's perspective]**

We are riding around the village trying to find Max's house. It had just started to rain and I have no idea where his house actually is, but I know what his and Josh's horses look like. I figured that they would be tethered out the front of the house or behind it like most place. Hardly anyone has enough money to build a stable. We are mostly okay money ways but nobody's rich like in the cities. David spots the two horses, and I recognize them as Josh's and Max's horses.

"beautiful horses. If only they didn't belong to such assholes," Lily says.

Having being working in the stables, caring for and selling horses sense she quite at the blacksmith, Lily has a very select opinion on horses.

I dismount and David and Lily follow suit. Not till now have I actually thought about how exactly we are going to get inside Max's house and I realize how badly I have thought this though. But I don't get to think about it long, before Lily takes one look at a large window on the second story and the tall pine trees that stands about four or five meters out from the house. And without saying anything, she sprints towards the wall, wall runs up one meter or so and then she springs herself into the pine tree, grabbing the lowest branches and starts to climb through the branches towards the window.

I look at David and I'm not surprised to see his mouth hanging wide open, it looks quite comical.

I had a little more warning than David. When Lily whispered in my ear she said that I'm not the only one with secrets. At the time it was something I already knew. Everyone has secrets; it's just part of being human. I just doubted that they were as intense or dangerous as mine. But now I know she meant; 'a true secret', an abnormal secret. One that is unwise to tell anyone about unless you're trying to get yourself killed.

I watch as Lily climbs higher and higher into the tree, then when she is high enough she takes a sneak peek inside the room beyond the window, then she presses herself against the truck of the tree and flings herself across to the window, landing gracefully on the window sill and grabbing the top of the window to stop herself from losing balance. And I notice, other than the rustling sound of the branches crashing around when she jumped in and out of the tree, she hadn't made a sound.

She looks down at us and jolts her head towards the window and the room behind it and her voice rings inside my head as I imagine her saying_ 'well come on then!' _in the ruthless, cocky voice she always does when she's showing off.

"Right then, come on," I say to David and start walking.

David breaks out of his little trance and turns to stare at me instead. "Yep," he says, popping the P. "I am definitely going to do that...that... great big, fancy ninjaness," he says sarcastically throwing his arms in the general direction of the wall. But then he sees that I'm not going to the wall.

"I meant 'let's go _distract_ Joshua Cult and Max Krev" I say half laughing.

I bang three times on the door and I can hear it eco, quietly through the house. It takes a while to open so I imagine they are on the second floor. Good, Lily didn't climb that tree for nothing.

The door opens a notch and I throw a punch at it, so that the door goes smacking into Max's face. He stumbles backwards with a cry of shock, holding his nose.

He glares at us. "Well I guess you lucky my parents aren't home, huh!" he says then he yells up the stairs. "JOSH! GRADY'S HERE TO KILL YOU!"

I tell David to stop max from leaving and I push past him to make my way up the stairs and find Josh. My anger begins to grow stronger the further up the stairs I get but I manage to keep it under check.

I spot Lily in the hallway, she has Josh pressed against the wall and he's struggling without much success of loosening her grip. My anger surges at the sight of him and I almost lose control.

"Uh! Here we go. Our little demon boy has finally turned up," he says.

Lily presses him harder against the wall and he gasps.

"And you can probably lay off a little, now sweet heart," He says teasingly to Lily. "We're all still at least half human aren't we?"

Lily looks towards me with a questioning expression on her face and I give her a small nod. She steps away from Josh and he sets to straightening himself up. Then Lily throws a punch at his already bloodied face.

Suddenly somebody jumps on me, catching me off guard and while Lily was distracted with punching Cult. I collapse to the floor with a cry of surprise.

"James!" Lily yells glaring at the person on my back, holding me down. I'm assuming it's Max.

Bograrn crashes through the door opposite Lily and smashes her against the wall like a rinosorus; she doesn't even have time to swear from shock!

"LILY!" I scream, as the horrible sound of crushing bones against wood, murders my ears, and I scream myself harsh, my fury in full swing, beyond my control. But Max keeps a strong grip on me, stopping me from ripping Bograrn's head off with my bear hands.

Josh get back to his feet, rubbing his jaw, were Lily punched it. Max presses something cold and sharp against my neck and I feel a shiver run down my spine and I stop struggling and try to real in my fury, without that much success.

"Aha. You know what this is. Don't you? You recognize the feeling it gives you," Max says triumphantly.

Josh walks towards me, much like how I imagine a Reaper would approach a corpse.

"You know, I have never really understood how the hunters in just about every story are portrayed as the bad guys," he says, as if I was an insect he had found on his bedroom floor.

"When it is the monsters side that the people take. All me and my family want; is a safe, pure world for everyone to live in. And what do you want? Huh? What does your instincts want? What does your very blood make you want? What do you and all your, little demon buddies around the world! _Want?_!" he says, his voice slowly rising after each question and by the last one, he's yelling.

I shake my head, staring at him with deep confusion, but then I feel the sharp silver scratch my neck and I wince as pain flashes though me like lightening.

_Why the hell does he think I'm a demon?!_ "You're nuts! You know that? YOU'RE FUCKING CRAZY!" I yell, spitting each word out as if they were acid.

"Am I?" Josh says harshly. "Well, all the signs I've been following have led me to you and your little group Grady!"

_My group I feel dread wash over me. Or what's left of it. It was only the four of us. And I loved it that way; I was never a massive fan of crowds. But now Lily is probably dead; and I don't even know what happened to David, or if he's okay. They've become the closest thing I have to family and David may as well have been my real brother. He looked enough like Dad with his hair and his eyes... And it's my fault that they are here in the first place._

_ My own bloody fault that they both might be dead! And I don't even know if there's a way out of this one._

"Did you actually ever wonder," Josh says, drawing me out of my deep thoughts. "Why I came here three months ago all by myself, yet I was almost never at school?" he says and the full meaning of what he said before smacked me in the face.

_'All the signs I've been following have led me to you' He has been following me, following signs of demonic activity. But why would that lead to me? That's not what I am! I'm not a fucking Demon!_

"I assumed you were a lonely, traveling, prick!" I growl and I watch as Josh's piercing blue eyes grow darker.

"Enough talk! I want to get to destroying you!" he says standing up. "You know the people who killed your mother? They didn't just kill her. Oh, no they didn't give her that luxury." He says and a look of triumph crosses his face as he sees my badly compressed expression.

"They tortured her, in front of all of those scum that you call family. I watched her scream and howl, like a bitch while your dog father watched. I saw his eyes as he was slowly pushed into madness and the brown iris of them turning yellow as he became more and more demon! Until finally; they cut her in half!" He yells.

I scream at him, completely out of control, not care for the tiniest second of what might happen. I don't care what Cult does to me, I only care getting Cult's head on a stick! I roar my full fury at him and my visions blurs, then refocuses, sharper and brighter that before and I feel sudden pain in my chest but I ignore it.

I fight with all my strength to throw Max off my back and for a second I catch a glimpse of Cult's face. It had gone white with fear.

"Holy shit!" I hear Max scream. "Boggz help! I can't hold him!"

Josh motions for max to let me go and he seizes me himself before I have a chance to rip his head off and throws me against the wall, I cry out as my back makes a shallow crack in the wooden planks and Josh grabs my hair and slams my head back.

"Now, now Jamesie, no need to start the anger time bomb yet, you'll have plenty of time for that later," He says. "Didn't your daddy ever tell you to only use a secret weapon in a real war? And oh yes, there will be a war. And the Argents will be there, because _we_ hunt monsters Grady. Because _all_ _you monsters want, is the destruction of the human race!_ I was sent here, to this pathetic little town, to investigate some demonic activity here. And my research led me to you, so now... now I'm just pondering on whither I'll kill you now nice and slow, or let you suffer your own fate," He whispers.

Suddenly the window at the end of the hallway smashes and a huge gust of wind blows through the room. The light rain and turned into a full blowing storm. But then we just stand and stare, Josh completely forgotten about killing me, as the weirdest thing in the world started to happen.

The rain wasn't just going down, but some of it way flying upwards and sideways. Slowly forming a massive, floating puddle of water a few meters outside the window.

Then a bolt of lightning flashed and the water came to life, crashing through the window like a Tsunami. Washing away everything in sight, but leaving me and Lily unaffected. I watch, frozen as Josh, max and Bograrn are washed down to the other end of the hall, screaming. They smack into the opposite wall and I search for whom or what is making the wave.

Then I spot her, high up in the tree her mouth moving incredibly fast, chanting words, controlling the water. _Estella_. She spots me staring at her and she waves at me without stopping her chanting. Then she waves her arms towards the window in a pushing motion and the tidal wave washes away and is almost as quickly replaced with tiny droplets of rain, shooting down the hall, turning to pins of ice and implanting themselves into the edges of the three boy's clothes, pinning them to the wall but leaving them uninjured.

Estella jumps off her perch in the tree and pulls herself up through the window. She spots Lily's limp form and her skins flushes and becomes even paler than it already is and her pale blue eyes pierce me.

"What the heck happened?" she yells as I instinctively sprint to Lily to see if she's okay. I hold my breath as I search for a pulse. "Is she okay?" Estella cries.

I find a pulse and I breathe a sigh of relief and collapse to the ground exsorsted and "She's alive," is all I manage to say. Then my mind shoots to David and a boost of adrenalin fly's me down the stairs. I spot him at the bottom of the stairs and I skid down next to him.

There's a small bit of blood beneath his head but otherwise he looks unharmed. I reach to find his pulse too and he lets out a small groan at my touch.

"Hey. You Ok? Your head's bleeding pretty bad," I say and his hand reaches for the back of his head.

"He threw me," David says in a quiet voice that makes me nervous. David was almost never quite. "He picked me up; and threw me against the stairs."

"Shhh," I tell him, he shouldn't be using up energy, talking. "I'm going to get you home and patch you up. You're going to be fine."

I run up the stairs to find my journal in max's room, although I'm having doubts about wither it was worth getting the stupid book back. I run back, shoving it into my jacket pocket and rush back and get Estella to help me carry Lily down the stairs.

I hear Josh yelling as we make our way back to where David is.

"I still know what you are Grady! Your little book doesn't hold any secrets anymore! _Everyone will know!"_ I desperately try ignoring Josh's mad screaming and I spot David, getting into a sitting position at the bottom of the stairs. He sees Lily, limp between us and his face flushes.

"Oh my god! Is she okay?"

"She's going to be fine David; just... try to stop that bleeding on your head." I reassure him, even though there is no way of me knowing, I just hope. David is a fighter, and so is Lily, so I hope that gives them an advantage.

I hoist Lily into her horse, in front of Estella and I run back to help David onto my horse, Athena. Then I go tie David's horse to Athena's bridle, and we gallop to my home, the storm, crashing around us.

Once we are all inside the tiny one roomed house, I give everyone towels and blankets. Estella lays Lily on my bed and sits on the edge of the table and David collapses in a chair beside her, looking a bit green. I made him a makeshift icepack from chunks of ice wrapped in a small towel and now I find myself uselessly pacing up and down, trying desperately to pull myself together and figure out what to do.

_How come Cult kept calling me a demon? That's not even his real name; he's with those evil bustards that killed my mother. Oh bloody hell! I really am in a great big pile of shit right now! Come on dad, please, please, PLEASE get here soon! I need your help! I don't know what to do. Lily's probably dying and David looks like he's about to drop dead as well. I'm not even sure if Estella is Estella anymore. The Esta I knew never would of lifted a finger to harm anyone, much less send bloody tsunami at them and then ice shard them to the wall! I just don't know how something as simple as getting my journal back, could turn into a life or death situation. _

I have a massive urge to smash something, but instead I collapse against the wall and let myself sink to the floor. Then I know what to do. _I'm going to send dad a letter._

- - - - - G - - - - -


	3. Chapter 3

Hunting Squad

**[Grubbs's perspective]**

I'm sitting on a log in a clearing where I have set up camp for the night with two others. I can't stop thinking about Reni. She was the most wonderful girl I had ever met. She was amazingly kind, smart, funny and surprisingly talented with an axe. At first it was just a silly little high school crush. Then I witnessed her brother, Loch, die and what that did to her. She became close to me and I knew exactly how she felt. I know how it feels to lose your family. I saw my parents and sister get ripped to pieces by demons and it had almost driven me insane, _hell I was in a lunatic asylum for ages and I never would have come out if it wasn't for my Uncle Dervish._

A small woman with flowing, dark red hair comes and sits next to me and puts her small arm around my massive shoulders. I look down from the stars and I smile sadly down at her. Bec, Kernel and I have been traveling around by ourselves now for a long time. I never knew them very well when I was younger, but I knew I didn't like Kernel very much. He never gave a crap about me and I never gave a crap about him. But now; with Reni gone; they are the only ones I have left, apart from James. I'm drawn out of my thoughts by the sound of soft wings beating up and down in the air. I cast around for the source of the sound, glad for the distraction. _Maybe it's Krieg, back from his hunt. _But the bird I see coming out of the darkness isn't black, but dark brown and white. He clumsily lands on a nearby log and fixes his emerald green eyes on me. "James," _that's James's owl. _I get up and walk towards him and he lifts his leg so I can remove the letter he is carrying. I remove it, and give him a gentle scratch under his wing as I sit on the log next to him.

Dad

You are not going to believe how much has happened in the last few hours. I always knew that Josh was a really bad bully but just before my second class he got hold of my journal, and I know what you're going to say. You're thinking that I shouldn't have left it lying around and I know that. But he got it and translated enough of it to convince them that I'm some kind of demon and we had this massive fight. We are fine just so you know, but I don't know how much longer it's going to stay fine. We never would have made it out if it wasn't for Estella.

Now I think Lily's dying and David looks really bad too. And Estella... I don't even know if she is Estella anymore. Please can you get here as fast as you can? I don't make a habit of pulling you out of a job early and this is some serious crap I have got myself into. I really need your help. Josh lied about who he was and now it turns out his last name is Argent. He's with them dad! He is one of those mages who killed mum. He was sent here to investigate demonic activity and he has set himself onto me. I really, really, really need your help.

I don't know what to do.

**J** James

As soon as I finish reading the letter I call Kernel out of the shelter and throw James's letter into the camp fire. "You guys are going to have to finish this one without me," I say to them as a tall, bald, black man slumps down next to Bec, setting his shining blue eyes on me. "How come?" Bec asks. "Is there something wrong?" "James is in trouble," I say. "He wants you to help clean up his mess?" Kernel asks. "Well I've got news for you Grubbs. We're in trouble here too! I can see it. Demons are coming here to try to kill all the people and you want to just run off to help one boy?" "Kernel that _one boy_ is my son," I say firmly. "And I don't care if Barnabas was always saying that worldly connections are a weaknesses and stupid. I have lost enough of my family and I'm not letting anyone else die." My voice is deadly calm but it carries a deep burning power to replace the anger in my tone.

"Anyway I figured you would still handle it easily without me. It's only a small window, it wasn't going to be a challenge to start with," I say. "We'll meet up later though right?" Bec asks. "Yea, of course," I say. I walk into our small wooden shelter and get my backpack and march straight back out. I see Kernel standing up, his arms moving quickly through the air like he doing an invisible jigsaw puzzle. I thought Kernel was seriously nuts when he told me about the lights, all those years ago. They are multi coloured shapes, pieces of the universe that only he can see. He found out early in life that he can patch them together to create a window - a temporary portal to anywhere in the world or in any universe - but now he can do almost as much as a powerful mage. That's what he is doing now; making a window so I can get to James. Windows are the fastest way to travel but they can also be the most dangerous and they usually take an hour or so to create in normal circumstances, but Kernel, he can create one in seconds.

Suddenly a bright, shimmering, 3 meter high patch of ever-changing red light flashes in my face and my eyes water from the sudden strength of the light. I smile at the thought of seeing my son again. I cast a small wave to Bec and Kernel and I jump through the window.

I land and I crouch instinctively, windows tend to draw attention, which is one of the reasons they are so dangerous. The other, bigger reason is, when one door to one place opens, so shall another on the other side; a door that once opened, may be stepped through in either direction. But here was no need for it, no one was around; I had come out near the edge of the pine forest. The air is warm, but damp from rain and I could just see the town lights glowing in the distance. I start walking towards the town and the window vanishes behind me. As I get closer the air gets warmer and the light coming from the town gets brighter. _There's something wrong. Something doesn't feel right_. I start to walk faster and then I break into a jog. I crash my way out of the forest as I realise what's wrong. I came free of the trees and I now have a clear view of most of the town. I stand and stare, unable to move as I watch all the small wooden buildings that make up the town collapse in on themselves, turning black as the void, as they get eaten up by flames. I can't make myself move, my body has frozen itself into place; A feeling I haven't felt since I was a teenager. I had just given myself false hope. What if I never get to see my son again? What if all I find is a shrunken, burnt corpse with James Grady written all over it. But I can't think about that because if he is still alive then I can't just stand here like an idiot. I force myself to move and I start sprinting down the hill.

_- - - - - __G__ - - - - -_

**[David's perspective]**

After James sent Apollo with the letter, he immediately went back to pacing up and down the room and it's starting to drive me mad. "Hey James, can you stop with the zombie pacing! It's giving me a headache." "I don't think it's me giving you a headache ... But fine I'll stop," he says and he goes and slumps against the wall instead.

I feel like a frozen chunk of meat that's been shoved in front of the fire to defrost. It seemed a bit hot before but nobody has seemed to notice, so I'm assumed that it was just me feeling weird because of my head being smashed against the stairs. It could have been worse of course, I could have got concussion and died but I'm still here. Lily hasn't moved though and I hate just sitting here, not knowing what to do next or how to help lily. I feel useless. I can't even figure out what James is thinking when I can normally read his face like an open book. But he just stands there against the wall, not giving off any impressions, his face completely blank of expressions like a broken in horse. "Is it just me or does it feel like a full blowing furnace in here?" Estella asks. _So it's not just me! But then why is it so hot? _James must have been thinking the same thing because he looks over at the fire place and frowns when he sees that it remains unlit. He stands up and walks to the window and draws the drapes back letting the light spill across the room. I watch as his eyes shrink to tiny pin pricks. "You two might want to come and see this," he says and I get to my feet and look over his shoulder through the window with Estella looking over mine. "Oh balls," I say and Estella runs to the door.

"Esta! No we should stay together," James cries as her hand begins to pull at the door. "But my parents and sister are out there!" She yells and she sprints out the door without another word. I glance at James and he stare back at me with luminous green eyes. He runs to his bed and pulls out a long box from beneath it. He opens the lid and pulls out two weapons; a sword and an axe. He throws me the sword and I catch it by its hilt. The sword was styled like a trident, its hand guards look like piercing forks with the middle one transformed into a long, thin blade with runes encrusted into its base. It is beautiful.

I look up at James in surprise. "But this is yours?" I say. "Just take it and stay here. I'll be right back." he says and he starts to run towards the door but I stubbornly step in front of him. "You think I'm going to let you go out there without me?" I say.

"I won't be long, I just need to get Estella to come back," he says.

"But what if you don't. What if you get stuck behind some flaming wall and I'm still here with little Ms comatose?"

"You won't. Seriously I'll come back."

He trys to get past me but I block him again.

"You know, I've had it up to here with you," I say holding up my hand to eye level to

"Don't think I'm blind to what going on James! Your face looks like there's a time bomb behind it and you're not letting me help you!" "David just stay here. Please! I'll tell you everything later, but I need you to stay here and keep Lily safe until I come back." He says and I sigh. "Well I guess that's the best I'm going to get out of you, isn't it? Fine! Go blow up! See if I care." I say and I watch him over my shoulder as he leaves the house.

_- - - - - __G__ - - - - -_

_**[James's perspective]**_

_ Chasing Estella proves to be more of a challenge than I thought. She weaves in and out of the colossal flames artfully, covering her nose and mouth with her sleeves, her pale form barely visible against the smoke of the fire. I can hear doors slamming open as waves of people crash out of their homes, some wearing bed clothes but most are still fully clothed and a few are carrying bags or weapons._

_I use my bulk to break my way through the crowd and I just spot Estella's white hair fly around a corner. I follow her and see her yelling over the crowd to a tall, dark skinned, bulky, bearded man. I recognise him as the blacksmith; her father. "Where is mum?" She yells. "She's fine. She has gone with Joe to a clearing nearby." He says back in his low booming voice and his eyes glance to me standing behind Estella. "We need to move now!" He says back to Estella. "You; if you're going to tag along then I hope you can run fast." "No I'm not going to," I say and Estella spins around and glares at me like I'm an idiot. "I need to get back to David," I say before she can say anything. "Besides I know the clearing you're talking about. I'll meet you there." Estella lunges at me, wrapping her thin arms around my big shoulders and I lift her off me. "Go," I say but she hesitates before she seems to make a decision. "Be there in half an hour; or I'll come and drag you there myself," she says and she turns and runs towards the southern gate. Her dad nods at me before he turns his back and runs after her._

_I sprint back around the corner and down the gravel road, breaking holes in the crowd when it gets too tight to weave through them. I turn onto the street that my house is on and without warning, a hot blue chain lightening flies half a metre from hitting me and it strikes the building just behind me. The wall explodes and I throw myself back around the corner, raising my arms to protect my face. Wooden splinters fly through the air and I hear people screaming as the try protect themselves and children from the explosion. One splinter manages to get past my leather covered arms and scratches a shallow cut along my left cheek._

_I pull my dad's axe out of my belt and peek around the corner, breathing heavily with blood and sweat rolling down my face. The smoke is dense but I can make out a small group of well-armed, tall men and women, slowly walking up the street. The man in front is massive, he look incredibly strong and his bulging arms carry the biggest Warhammer I have ever seen, and I find myself thinking it looked like a meet tenderiser on steroids._

_The woman walking beside him must be his wife or maybe sister. She has white blonde hair that falls over her shoulders in waves, a sharp angular face and burning, dark blue eyes. She carries a very lethal looking sword, loosely in her left hand. And there; there is Josh walking behind them, looking very proud of himself, with a shining great-sword across his shoulders. Josh spots me and he stops the blonde woman and says something to her nodding towards me. __Oh crap!__I quickly bring my head back around the corner before they can get a good look at me._

_I hear running footsteps as their heavy metal boots crunch loudly down on the gravel road. I feel my heart start pounding__ in my chest and I run. The crow__d has died down a__bit so I can run almost freely, but where can I go? David and Lily are still in my house! I run to the other end of the block and turn off, __thinking__ that I might be able to slip thr__ough a window. But then I spot D__avid half way down the street walking towards me, carrying Lily with her arm over his shoulders. I run towards him and he look__s__ up and spots me. "Oh thank god," he says. "James there are armed people out the front of your house!" "I know and we should run because they're after me," I say, sounding more confident than I feel. I lift Lily's other arm around my shoulder, __taking__ most of her weight off David and he looks around. "But where's Estella?" He says "She's Fine. She went with her dad. Now can we run, like __now!__" I say __hurriedly__ starting to run. He starts to run with me and I try stay at a __pace__ he can keep up, with Lily between us._

_We get no further than 5 or 6 metres when something explodes behind us and a wave of hot air makes the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. I turn around to see what has been hit and a long silver blade strikes the air where my head had just been a split second before. "Holy Shit!" I shout as the blade retracts. I let go of Lily and David stumbles under her weight but stays on his feet. I lift dads axe and step __in front__ of David__'__s back, __facing__ our attacker._

_It's the blonde woman who I guessed to be Josh's mother or some other relative. She __instantly__ strikes again, this time for my chest rather than going for another head shot. I block her and I go to retaliate but she's too quick for me. She __stops__ my blade with her swords, swipes a short sword out from behind her back and strike at my legs while I can't block her attack. I jump, not having any time to think, __don't act, react, __those are the words my dad __always__ told me when I was younger, just learning how to use weapons. I come into landing and I lift my axe and swing it at her without any particular aim, just trusting it to hit where it needs to. She expertly blocks all my strikes with alarming ease. It's like our blades are having a __conversation__, taking turns blocking and __striking__ out at each other._

_Suddenly my head begins to throb and a high ringing grows in my ears. Then I can __hear__ a voice in my head. __"Run James I got this one,"__It says. Dad? Why is __dad's__ voice in my head? __"__I said run! NOW!"__"Run!" I yell at David and I turn and lift Lily off his small frame and I run with her __cradled__ in my large arms. "Get to Athena" I yell, hoping that he remembers, __that's__ my horse. The blonde woman is taken aback by our retreat but she chases us, putting away her swords so she can run faster. Then __she pulls__ out a small knife and sends it flying through the air and it nearly chops off my ear. I hear David panting in front of me but I don't let him stop running. I scream at him to keep going._

_I hear __someone__ shouting in the distance, I can't hear what they are saying and I don't care, all I can think of is running. Then the voice booms louder like it has been turned up in volume. "HEY YOU! STOP PICKING ON TEENAGERS YOU PSYCHDELIC BITCH! Did you know that your backside looks tiny from here?!" I turn around and the blonde woman does too. I see a huge man with flaming red hair lowering his hands from his mouth carrying a big, mischievous grin on his face. Dad!__'Keep going...' __says his voice in my head and I obey. I start backing up__quietly__so the woman doesn't notice, but I don't want to leave dad.__"Go! You'll see me soon"__. __I'm just about to turn and run when I see something that stops me. I watch him bend down and scoop up something from a burnt piece of __broken__ wood, when his __hands come__ up, they open and I see red flames flickering around his fingertips, growing in size. __Dads a Mage? Why the hell didn't he tell me? __I feel __David's__ arms press down on my shoulders and I'm drawn back to my __senses__. I turn and run with David in front of me. We reach the back of my house and I run to untether Athena and __David's__ horse. I come back out to see that Dad and the blonde are deep in an intense battle of __flaming__ magic vs silver swords and lightening. I watch my dad summon a young fury dragon from the ashes and flames of a burning building, it circles __overhead,__ breathing fire down onto the ground. I lift Lily onto the front of Athena and drag the staring David over where he can get onto his horse. I glance back to the battle, worried about dad. He breaks out of the smoke of the battle and looks over to where I stand, arms raised and streaks of flame __circling__ his shoulders. "James__,__ come on!" David yells at me and I see dad turn north and run from sight. I press my axe into my belt and pull myself onto Athena, behind Lily and I bring Athena around and __gallop__ towards the East Gate with David riding beside me._

_- - - - - __G__ - - - - -_

_**[Grubbs's perspective]**_

_Running; mak__ing my long legs run as fast as the can. I fly through the streets, my feet __barely__touching__ the ground. The blonde woman, Dominique__Argent has nearly lost me, but I can still hear her close by fo__ll__owing my trail. I come__ to__ the end of where the fire has spread. The buildings here are not yet burnt. I run towards the closest one and begin to climb up, finding gaps in the wood and using the window sills to hail myself up the wall. I grab the edge of the roof and pull myself up onto the flat roof. I run along the roof, jumping across from one building to the next. I stop, __crouch__ and look down on the street to see if Dominique has lost my trail yet and I see her come around a corner, looking around in confusion. "COME ON!" She yells "I know your here! COME OUT AND FACE ME YOU COWARD!" My anger __flares__ up; too many people have called me a coward to get to me and I have come to hate the word but I force myself to stay put. She __doesn't__actually__ know I'm __here;__ I need to stay and wait her out. She looks around again, her blades held by her sides._

_She jogs around corners, __scanning__ the area looking for me. More people come around __separate__corners;__ I __recognise them all;__ they are all Argents. They join the search but none of them think to look up. There is one boy __among__ them who is just on the bridge of adulthood. His face is less familiar to me but I have seen him once before. He was there when they killed Reni, so I hate him just as much as the rest of them. I watch him search with the others, but then his eyes stop on the ground and I follow his __gaze__._

_By the wall I climbed, I spot it too, two small smudges of dirt on the lowest window sill where my shoes must have rubbed on the wood. I __groan__ as I watch his eyes track the path up the wall and along the roof._

_I think of moving but he would see the movement so I just sit and __appear__ calm, like I didn't have a care in the world about them catching me. And when his eyes come to rest on me, I smile at him and wave playfully. He just stares at me and to my surprise I see him give out a small laugh and he shakes his head._

I wander if he is thinking that I'm a moron...

_- - - - - __G__ - - - - -_

_**[David's perspective]**_

_How is this all happening? Why is it happening? Just this morning everything was normal! I got up in the same bed, in the same room, with the same people, in the same orphanage and went through the same routines that I go through every morning. Then that letter came and everything I though was reality seemed to disintegrate in front of me. And something else started to fall into place._

_Who were those people back there and why did they have to burn down the entire town just to get to one person? Just to get at James. Of all people why him? He is hiding something, I know it... And in a way that makes me feel like I hardly know him at all. I have known him since I was seven years old and now I'm wondering if that boy I grew up with, was even the real James. That little seven year old boy I saw for the first time, using sticks in imaginary sword fights, making bows out of long pine branches and pine needles and running around amongst the trees._

_But I also know that it is the same thing again with him and his dad. When I saw his face, when he watched those flames erupt from Grubbs's hands, I knew that he had no idea that his father was a mage. I suppose it's going to be like that everywhere. Everyone seems to have secrets but me! There are always going to be things in life, which are hidden from us. There is always going to be things people would rather tuck away in a corner of their brain, than let people know about it. Normal people would call them cowards. But that's not true. I don't think there is really such thing as a coward. Being afraid is one of the things that define you as human. If you're not afraid then you're either reckless or something else entirely. I guess it's the same with secrets. I just hope James __has his reasons for keeping his secret from me._

_- - - - - __G__ - - - - -_

_**[James's perspective]**_

We have been riding through the trees for about 10 minutes and I know that it takes about 20 minutes to reach the clearing on foot, so we should be there soon. I have been wondering how I am meant to explain everything to David, because I know he is going to want answers, but I'm not sure I can give him all of them.

I spot a dim light through the trees and I slow Athena down to a fast walk. We break through the trees and I see that there is a fair amount of people here, each in their own little group. I scan around for Estella and her family. I see her sitting slightly apart from a small group of strong men where her dad is deep in an argument. She sits next to a small woman and holding an even smaller ten year old girl in a tight hug. It must be her little sister, Jo. She looks up from her sisters' head and sees us on our horses but doesn't move away from Jo. I get off Athena and lift Lily off her while David dismounts his horse. I carry Lily over to them, drawing the attention of many sympathetic eyes; and David leads the horses behind me. I lay her down on the ground gently and kneel on the ground as David comes over, letting the horses go. Estella gets up and comes to sit next to us and Jo follows her. Then she pulls us all into a big group hug. "Have you seen your dad yet?" Esta asks me quietly and I nod after a while. "Well he's okay isn't he?" "Yea; at least he was when he made us run," I say and David looks at me curiously. "What do you mean? That was you saying we should run!" I pause not sure how to explain without sounding mad. "Umm... how about I explain that one later as well." "How about making 'later' now. You've already said you would explain _later_;now is as good a time as any." he says breaking out of the hug and rest of us break it too. Everyone is looking at me and I start to get goose bumps, I hate being the centre of attention. "Can it wait till dad gets back? Cause there are things I want find out too you know!" I say. "If he gets back."

_"I never thought you would give up on me so quickly, James," says a voice behind me and I spin around on the ground and stare at the huge, tall man standing behind me. "Dad!" I throw myself at him and his tough arms welcome me as he stands there laughing._

_- - - - - __G__ - - - - -_

_**[Grubbs's perspective]**_

_James hugs me tight and I try to stop myself from wincing but he obviously notices and he lets me go. I'm covered in bruises and I managed to let in some pretty nasty cuts that are burning savagely. "It looks like you got into some dog fight, huh," James says and I sit down and give out a small laugh. "Just a little one," I say. "No lightening involved whatsoever." "Well that ability to use sarcasm is obviously a sign of good health," says David. "I suppose you lot are just bursting to ask questions so why don't you start on that tact," I say to James, slightly wondering what thoughts are going around in that mind of his. David is the first to ask something. "Um, I don't want to interrupt but Lily is still in a bit of a coma and I was wondering if you can do anything to help her?" He asks, and a frown crosses my face as I try to remember if I have ever tried to wake anyone from a coma with magic. "I know I can definitely heal injuries but don't believe I have ever tried to wake someone out of a coma before. However, I'll give it a go, just don't get your hopes up," I say and I get up and walk towards Lily. I kneel down beside her and place my hands on either side of her head, something I saw my uncle Dervish do many times. The first time I saw him do it was when he was trying to figure out what was going on with me. He went searching through my head looking for any magic that might be present. When I was younger magic wasn't always there because I was subconsciously hiding it from myself. Later on he taught me how to do it; how to search through another's head. _

_I close my eyes and let magic flow to my finger tips and through into her head. Flashes of memories cross the backs of my eyes but I ignore them. Lily's memories are none of my business and they are not what I'm looking for anyway. I'm looking for damage that might be the cause of her coma so I can heal her. The memories become more dominant as I get further into her head and it gets harder to ignore them. I see images of an ash black house, burnt down to a ruin, a small girl with black hair, crying on the ground with an older boy leaning down to pull her into a hug. Then a twig snaps and she looks over her shoulder. Then it blacks out and I try get back to what I was doing but another image flashes in front of me. I watch as a tall woman comes out from behind a tree with a sword resting on her shoulder, __Dominique. __As if in slow motion I watch the boy next to Lily, move to protect her from the oncoming battle mage and I hear a muffled voice come free of his lips as if I was listening to it through glass. "Back off! Don't you think you have done enough to this family?" he says, but Dominique doesn't even acknowledge that he has spoken. The boy turns back to Lily "Get out of here Lilith" he says and as he turns back, a blade is shoved through his chest. I watch his eyes turn black as he dies and Dominique pulls her blade out and decapitates him. Lily stands behind him as he crumbles to the ground, fresh shock crossing her face. Then her face sets into a deadly calm rage as her eyes snap to Dominique. Lily lunges at her "What's wrong Lil? Was he going to be a keeper?" Dominique says teasingly, then she goes stiff like her insides have been frozen and Lily's eyes turn ice blue and her pupil narrow to cat like slits. "He was my brother you bitch!"_

I let go of her head, breathing hard, trying to make sense of what I've just seen. Then it all clicks into place and I stare down at lily. "Dad? What's wrong? Is she okay?" James asks urgently. I don't even know what to say, how to explain this to them, or whether I should tell them at all. "Dad… you have that face that says you know something. What's wrong with Lily?" I shake my head, I can't keep this from him, but I don't know how to break it too him.

"I don't think it was you they were actually looking for"

_The End_

Or is it

The Beginning


	4. Chapter 4

_Part 2_

_"Untold Mysteries"_

Demons

**[Max's perspective]**

I can't see anything. My eyes are stinging with smoke.

Josh left in an awfully big hurry, without even really bothering to wait for me. For I had just set to work putting thing back where they were and try dry out the floor and walls of the corridor. At least the rest of the house doesn't seem to have been effected by the wave. But I couldn't do anything about the dents in the wall where Bogz squashed Lily or Josh threw James, or the small holes where the shards of ice held us the wall. I would have had lots of explaining to do when my parents come home. But now I'm stuck in my room, beside my bed struggling for air, terrified to my guts, trying to think of a way out. But the only things my mind can think of is 'I'm trapped. No way out. I'm going to die'. The fire isn't in my room yet, but I can see the flames flickering ominously under the door. I feel like it's teasing me, mocking me for being so damb scared.

Suddenly the door explodes inwards and shatters splinters of wood over me and my scream of shock turns into a coughing fit. I cover my eyes from the smoke that bellows into the room after the door. Then I watch with terror as a shadowy figure enters the room and turns its dark face to look at me. I try to move away when it starts to move towards me but I can barely breath yet alone move.

But then the figure disappears. No not disappear; he shrank. He body thinned out to almost the size of a tree branch, sinking to the floor as it did so.

I stain my eyes against the smoke, but I can't see where the man went.

But I can see _something_. Something moving on the ground and it's giving me the creeps.

Then suddenly something flies towards me and all I see is a blur as something small and long sinks its long teeth into my neck.

_- - - - - __J__ - - - - -_

**[James's perspective]**

"Those people back there," dad says "the Argents are hunters. They roam around the world keeping an eye out for demonic activity. That much I think you lot have probably figured out by now. Am I right?"

Estella and I nod. I think about asking why they kept accusing me of being a demon. But I decide against it. I might ask later when I catch dad on his own.

"For the most part they are quite good hunters," dad continues. "But they refuse to draw the line at pure blood demons. To them demons aren't the only creatures that are corrupt and evil. Anything that isn't pure human is evil in their eyes. All around the world they are killing part demons, werewolves, vampires, fairies, banshees, shape-shifters, sirens, ghosts, the whole lot! Without even bothering to think about whether they're innocent or not."

It strikes me how angry dad seems to be and I notice that he is avoiding making eye contact with me.

"What's any of this got to do with Lily?" David asks, almost pleadingly. "What do they want with her?"

"I'm getting to that," dad says. "So many people think of hunters as the good guys, but these days I'm beginning to wonder if there is a good and bad side at all. There's just people ... and monsters in a constant war against each other" he runs into a deeply thoughtful silence "Lily here, is one of them. I have only known one other person like her in my entire life. His name was Beranabus**.** Lily isn't fully human, that's why the Argents are onto her." For the first time he looks at me straight in my eyes and I hear him speak in my head again. _"And why they're onto you and me." _"Lily is part demon," he says, turning back to the rest of the group. "Well that explains a lot," I say. "Does it?" David asks. He looks like a shell shocked soldier. "Yea it explains her 'great big fancy ninjaness,'" I say and he stares at me. _And it also explains how she behaves all the time, reckless, strong, always showing off. And it explains what she said in my ear after my panic attack._

"Part demons; can they do magic?" asks Estella.

"Yes," dad says. "But mages usually don't have very much demon blood in them; just a small amount, whereas with Beranabus, he was a magician, much more powerful than a mage, purely because he was half demon, half human."

"_Hello Grubitsch,"_ says a low, sad voice, interrupting my dad mid speech. I look around for the source of the weirdly mournful voice and dad visibly tenses all over. I watch his fist curl inwards and start to give off a faint orange glow. _I haven't ever heard anyone call dad by his actual name before. Maybe it's because of this reaction that nobody calls him it anymore. I don't blame him actually. Grubitch is a terrible name. _Everyone eyes him as he begins to rise to his feet. Then someone steps out from behind one of the pine trees, snarling evily. _Charles Lupin_. I am completely baffled to what's going on, Charles is nice! Has he really been evil all this time? I look at dad and then Lupin again, trying to figure out what kind of atmosphere is blooming between them. Then dads frown clears and a smile creeps onto his face to replace it. Then out of nowhere, dad blurts out "Dude! Where's the jelly beans?"

Lupin's snare deepens. "You're a bloody jelly bean!"

Then dad stands up completely and before I can figure out what the hell is going on, the tension between them disappears. Lupin is laughing and dad walks towards him and pulls him into a rib breaking bear hug. Then he breaks the hug and suddenly he punches Lupin on the arm. "Asshole!"

"I had you going though, didn't I? Lupin grins broadly rubbing his arm where dad hit it. "You actually thought I was Lord Loss."

"Ok!" says David loudly looking even more confused than me. "You two kids have had your fun, now explain please! Before my brain explodes trying to figure it out!"

Dad looks at Lupin almost like he wants to make sure he is really there. "Charlie Rall. This is Charlie Rall, he was a school mate of mine." He says looking back at us.

"Yea we know," David says. Then he pauses. "Wait... What?!"

"You guys already know each other?" dad asks.

"Well yea, he's our teacher. But what did you call him?"

"Don't worry," Lupin says. "It's not my real name anyway."

Dad stares at him.

"Charlie Rall is not my real name, it's Charles Lupin. I changed my surname to Rall while I was at school so that I didn't get into trouble," he says to dad. "You can understand that, can't you Grubbs?"

"Well yea. But why would anyone be giving you trouble?"

"I'm surprised you don't already know." Lupin says. "It's mainly because of my grandad. And I don't want to make it sound like I'm blaming him; I was always told how he was a good man. But perhaps if he had been more careful none of my family would have to lay-low so much."

He pauses as dad sits back down and he follows suit.

"To cut a long story short - roughly four or five years before my grandad was killed because he was discovered as a werewolf and since then the name Lupin is like having a target on your forehead with a note saying 'Shoot me I'm a monster!' you get the picture," he says with a small laugh and waits for a reaction.

I wait for questions to start pouring but all are silent, so I ask the question that must be on all our minds. "Are you a werewolf?"

He looks at me curiously and I hope he doesn't mind me asking so bluntly.

"Yes" he says quietly so that I can only just hear him.

"I'm very surprised that you didn't lie just then," dad says.

Lupins' eyes linger on me a moment, a small frown appearing. Then his pale grey eyes turn to dad again. "I try not to make a habit of lying so why start now?" he says "The only time I will lie is if a really, really must, like with hunters."

"Does Josh know?" David asks. "That you're a werewolf I mean."

"Josh is the least of my worries. But as far as I can tell, no, he doesn't." Lupin says, thoughtfully. "Which brings up the question, if not for me, who are they hunting?"

Silence from all of us. I can sense that Estella is reluctant to share our news with Lupin even though he has just told us his. The slight glare on her face says it all. She no longer trusts him. In her eyes he used to be the nicest, cleverest, awesomest teacher in school. Now he is - Charlie Lupin, werewolf, never to be trusted. That pisses me off massively. So I tell him.

"At first I thought they were after me," I say and Estella turns and glares at me and the air around me turns cold and moist. "Josh kept accusing me of being a demon. But now..." I look over at Lily still out cold on the ground, her chest slowly lifting as she breaths; it's the only way you can tell that she's still alive. "Now we know who they were really looking for, who they mistook me to be. It was Lily. She's the one they were looking for."

"Well there's no 'were' about it," dad adds. "They _are_ looking for her. And they're not going to stop now that they have burnt the whole town to the ground trying to find her. They have just caught the scent and the hunt will continue until they have her head on a stick."

Everyone stares at him, taken aback by his sudden violent comment. He sticks his hands up in the air like a caught criminal when he sees everyone's expressions.

"Hey, I'm just telling it like it is. Sometimes it's better to throw the cold hearted truth out in the open." There is silence as everybody takes this on board along with everything else and I watch while my thoughts whirl around in my head.

"Well, we aren't any safer here than we were in the village. What are we going to do?" David asks breaking the silence.

"Yes, we need a plan," dad says. "I threw them off our trail for now but they will find us sooner or later. By then all these people need to be out gone, vamoose. The others will have to fend for themselves." He pauses briefly then continues. "So any ideas where we can go?"

We all fall into thoughtful silence. "We could just start walking until we come to somewhere habitable," Estella suggests.

"No; a group this large would leave a nice wide trail. Walking without a destination would be extremely dangerous," Lupin says. "I remember that I came across a small village on my way here. It would only be about a day's walk, and from what it looked like before, it was inhabited."

"A small village is better than no village at all. So if nobody has any other ideas we should set out in a few hours. You should get some sleep, all of you," dad says. "I'll keep watch."

_- - - - - __J__ - - - - -_

_**[Max's perspective]**_

_My eyes slowly come back into focus and I'm met by a pounding in my head. I groan and something moves beside me and I brace myself for another attack from the snake. But then someone moves in front of me and crouches down over me and I try to make my eyes focus so I can see who it is. Whether it is the snake man or someone else. Then I notice something else. We're outside. There is no fire, nothing left of my room, trapping me in its grasp. My eyes adjust and stars begin to sparkle in the sky, completely clear. Just the way it should be after a storm._

_"You're an idiot Max," the person says simply and I can help but smile from the familiarity of the voice. I look over to the person in front of me, already knowing who it is._

_A boy only a year older than me crouches in front of me. I take in the sight of his dark eyes and his blond hair and the smirk that plays on his smart-alic face. _

_Josh. _

_"Bet I look fantastic ay?" I say sarcastically._

_"Considering you just got attacked by a fricken Vampire! Actually yes you look pretty good." _

_"A vampire?!"_

_"Yes. Now are you coming with me or are we just going to sit here?"_

**_- - - - - __J__- - - - -_**

**[James's perspective]**

David and Estella are doing their best to make beds out of all the pine needles they can carry, while I look for wood that's dry enough to put on the fire that dad has just started. Dad is sitting by the fire pit chanting quietly and as I approach with my pile of wood I see a small fire starts in the centre of the pit, giving off an enormous amount of heat for such a small flame. Then he moves onto another short spell and waves his hand at the smoke that is just beginning to rise in the air and I watch as it fades from the sky and the fire stops giving off smoke all together. "Nice," I say as I get into air shot.

"Are you being sarcastic, or genuine?" He asks in response.

I crouch down beside him, I'm not actually that sure if I was being sarcastic or not. I don't really know how I feel about dad being a mage. So I decide to change the subject.

"Before, in the village, I could hear you inside my head," I say. "At the time I thought it couldn't possibly have been you, at first I thought it was my conscience or something and it just had your voice because it's the voice most familiar to me. But it was you, wasn't it? You actually spoke to me in my head." Dad looks at me for a moment, then he looks back at the fire.

"It's not just fire you can do is it?" I ask, but before I can get anything out of him Lupin starts to approach and shouts at dad.

"Hey Grubbs! Come here I want to pick you brain."

Dad get up without saying anything and walks towards his old friend with his hands in his pockets.

I think about following them and finding out what it is that Lupin wants to know. But dad wouldn't eavesdrop on me so I'm not going to do it to him. So I set to stocking the fire instead and leave them to it.

_- - - - - __J__ - - - - -_

**[Grubbs's perspective]**

"Yes?" I ask Charlie as we come to the edge of the clearing.

"You have a real problem talking to your son don't you?" he says.

"Don't lecture, me just tell me what you want."

Silence.

"It's James," he says quietly.

"What about him."

"His eyes," he says. "Just after I said I was a werewolf, his eyes flashed yellow."

I frown and wait for him to continue. I know where this is going but I wait all the same.

"I know about the Grady curse. You never told me but I figured it out and how you overcame it. But…" he draws to a brooding halt and I have to egg him on. I know what he's going to say, but I let him continue.

"He's your son. What if he has it and things don't go as smoothly for him as it did for you?"

"For one, 'smoothly' is very much not the right word to describe what I went through. I would have said apocalyptic and it would still be an understatement," I say, trying to ignore the scenes poping up in my head of my old home, Carcery Vale, filled to the brim with hords of powerful demons, carrying the bloody severed heads of every person I cared about, taunting me as they charged out of the tunnel in their masses.

"Secondly. Yes James is my son and that is the reason that I believe that he can make it too. If I can do it; then so can he."

"But I thought it was your power with magic that got you through! James hasn't shown any signs of being magical and he is certainly not a magician like you."

"But he is still a Grady," I say. I pause briefly, thinking about what I can say to make Charlie understand.

"Look man, the reason I'm not too worried about James is because The Grady curse goes back to when demons first found our world! And that was a long, long, long time ago. We have been dealing with this a long time and there are curtain things that never happens, turning after you turn 18. That is one of them. Nobody over 18 has turned. Ever! James will be 18 in a few weeks. If he was going to turn he would have changed by now. Bill-E was 14 when he changed, my sister Gret was 16. And me, I was 15. In my time of turning, I became so close to losing myself to the beast. Closer to just giving myself up to stop the madness and the pain. All the time my Uncle Dervish was shouting at me to keep fighting, encouraging the human that was disappearing more and more every second." I pause slightly again, memories of that night flooding my brain. "He kept shouting at me 'you won't turn, you're Grubbs Grady. You'll win this fight. Grady's never lose.'"

And with that I turn and head back to camp before he tries to convince me that I am being stupid in denying what might be happening to James, and giving myself false hope. But I'm not about to go nuts and try to save him if he doesn't need saving. But I don't want to leave Charlie in that dark state so I turn back around and shout something back at him.

"The real question is; why the hell are you a teacher?"

_- - - - - __J__ - - - - -_

**[David's perspective]**

_Demons, at least 5 of them. Each one as large and twisted as the next.. I was able to pin-point where the window was just before it opened and the demons spilled out from the deep blue window, one after the other._

_Nobody is moving and everyone is silent, staring at the monstrous demons, clambering out from the massive blue light. Caught under the spell of the unreal scene. "Kind ah like, calm before the storm, eh?" I whisper to Bec who is standing beside me. She glares at me then quietly marches off to the side to broaden out net for pushing the demons back through the window. The demon in front steps forward. It's human in shape and seven feet tall, but its body is covered in corse black hair and its head is something between a bull and a man's. Huge horns are sprouting out of the top of its bald, semi-human face. It stoops low, spreading its arms wide and roars at the crowd as the four other demons gather behind it._

_All hell breaks loose. Everyone starts to scream and we are bomb-barded by a tidal wave of people, running for their lives. I see the demons spreading out faster than Bec can. "Bec!" I yell over the crowd, trying to stand my ground against the crashing bodies of the frantic crowd. I go to warn her but she turns to me and starts yelling instead. My eyes snap back to the demons and I see the Minotaur demon charging in my direction, scattering screaming humans out of its way with its horns. I curse and quickly look back to Bec and see a crocodile shaped demon with the head, neck, and tail of an eel skittering up behind her. I go to warn her but I only catch a glimpse of black fur and a strong stench of sulphur before the strong bone of the Minotaur's horns come crashing towards me, I have a split second to jump out of their path. I roll over to my back and raise my hand to the lights hanging, pulsing in the air around me. I pull my hand into a fist and some of the lights fold in on themselves and disappear. Then I throw my fist at the demon charging after the terrified humans. Thin lights fly from my fist like shooting stars towards the demon. They explode against its back and set some of its fur on fire. The big hairy monster grinds to a halt and turns on me again, steam spurting out of its nose as it snorts in anger and it charges right at me._

_- - - - - __J__ - - - - -_

Early morning and I still haven't been able to drop back to sleep. I can never go back to sleep when I have these nightmares. They are always clouding my nights now. This one I have had before. It's weird; I don't think I'm myself in my dreams. It's like I'm somebody else. Tonight, once again I was a black man who can see these weird patches of light in the sky. And that has happened isn't exactly helping me sleep either. Even James is asleep and I know how little sleep he gets.

I can't get the images of those flames out of my head. I can't stop thinking about how easily the only place I have managed to call home sense my parents died; was burned to a crisp.

I'm lying on my side, on my small bed of pine needles, shivering slightly from the cold; but more from plain good old shock. I still haven't asked James about... about whatever it is that's been going on with him, because I'm still mulling over everything we have just talked about. Josh being not just a school bully, but an evil monster hunter. Lily, my best friend, after James, the awesome rebellious tomboy in the group turns out to be half demon. Mr Lupin, the most interesting, passionate, teacher in the school, is a werewolf. James, the boy I met shortly after my parents dying. Running around the forest in his bare feet, who may as well be my brother, is withholding something big from me. And to top it all off; there are 'crazy for righteousness' hunters tracking us down right this minute slowly getting closer and closer to our hiding spot. How anyone can sleep with all that on their mind? I really have no idea.

I hear a rustling noise and I sit up, ready to yell out if I spot any hunters. But there's nobody in sight. I slowly lean over and put out the sword James gave me, balancing it in my left hand. I'm about to stand up and take a look when somebody says something behind me.

"David," It whispers and I turn around and see that James is sitting up, wide awake.

"David, where's Lily?" He whispers urgently.

I swirl back around and spot the empty bed we made up for Lily.

_She's gone._


End file.
